Golden leaves means golden days....

As May draws to a close in Melbourne, 

the colder nights are creating spectacular autumn leaves in the gardens. 

This is a stunning variety of Maple, a Japanese Coral Bark, 

which is a delight all year round and justifies his spot in 

the centre of the front garden of my home. 

This little tree has luscious lime green foliage throughout summer, 

a gorgeous golden explosion of colour in autumn, 

and will shortly drop his golden coat to reveal bright red bark for winter.

What a performer! 

His friends each side are a couple of Crab Apples, 

now losing their leaves, but will soon show off 

their tiny red crab apples throughout early winter.

When a building exudes calm....

Interesting how contrast of textures, contrast of light and dark, and contrast of solids and voids, can create a sense of quiet in a building. A sense of satisfaction, really.

This facade, of a tasty house up for sale in Beaumaris (one of Melbourne's bayside suburbs) is the work of architect Jeremy Wolveridge. While this style of cubic form - playing with cutout window corners - is not new, and harks back to the earlier Russian works of the young 20th century, this house is a very pleasingly balanced example, and is truly a beautiful piece of sculpture. It's easy to play with these forms, but not so easy to get it right.

Inside, I love the detail in the kitchen joinery which echoes the wonderfully caressed corners on the facade. And just a gorgeously richly-timbered kitchen too!

In the living room, I love that the focus is not so much on the wow view, but instead on achieving a vibrant living space which screams cocoon! Curling up in this room, on a wild winter's day with a storm raging on the bay outside, with a delicious glass of Drambuie and a good book - well, it doesn't get much better, does it?

Details of the sale of this treasure are at realestate.com.au
Or contact the agent Christian Hegarty,at Buxton Sandringham, via their website.